schwank

Alrighty guys, you've seen my posts of late as I get my 87 prepped for the track... I've come to the point where I want to prime the engine.... all fluids were drained for the rebuild, and I've already refilled the oil.

What else do I need to do before I can crank her over?

- Fill AF by first filling the engine from the top hose, then filling rad, then top off overflow tank
- Drip some oil into cylinders via spark plug holes? (how much?)
- Fuel pump will prime the rail on cranking the starter.

Anything else? Since it was my first time doing the timing belt and going so deep into the motor, I'm a tad nervous about the first attempt at starting it.

Gracias....schwank

Cass944

since you had the timing belt off, its always a good idea to turn the engine by hand a few rotations to make sure nothing is obviously off.

did you pour any oil into the head before you put the cam housing back on? usualy a good idea to have some lubrication on the lifters first startup....

i cant really think of much else.

if you changed the bearings on the crank or the rods make sure you start the car for a minute or so then change your oil... (use cheap stuff the first couple startups.) then start it up again with fresh oil and if you want take it for a drive around the block, then change the oil again... Whenever i do anything to the bottom end i usualy change the oil a good 5 or 6 times before i hit 100 miles. then i get some mobile 1 and then do regular 3000 mile changes. the point of all the oil changing is that theres going to be a lot of metal in your oil fromt he new bearings, and you want to flush it out before it can hurt anything.

good luck... keep the fingers crossed when you turn the key the first time.

Calmchaos

Ill be doing this soon too.
The haynes says change the oil after the first 600 miles.... I planned on 200.
Cass, is that not soon enough I bought 3 filters... how many times should I change the filter?

Im also curious as to the amount of oil to drip in.
Thanks!

db944

If the car doesn't build oil pressure right away (which it may not depending on how long everything was "dry") try setting an air compressor at about 45psi and shooting some air into the crankcase via the dipstick tube. This will help refill and re-pressurize the oil pump which may have a hard time priming on its own. My mechanic (who is an expert on 944s) recommeded this to me and it worked like a charm on my turbo rebuild.

M758

What I have done in the past.

1) turn the engine by hand a couple times. Remember that doing a t-belt you need to turn it around a time or to check the timing. It can shift once the belt tension evens up from a turn.

So assuming that is good. pull the wire from the coil to the rotor. This will allow you to crank the engine a bit to move the oil around. You won't see oil pressure, but it is good to get things moving.

Then put the coil plug on an crank it till it starts. You probably will hear lifter noise for a little bit. Oil pressure should come up in a few seconds. After a minute things should sound pretty good. I'd expect to see some smoking once the headers start to heat up as crap will burn off.

Let it idle for a about 5 minuntes and be sure the vavle tick goes away. Then rev to 2000 rpm or so a few times. Coolant systems should a check over here as you will want to warm the engine so that the t-stat opens and the radiatior gets warm. Cooling fans should kick in if they still run off the temp sensor in the radiator.

I'd let it run for 30 min or so at idle with occasional revs to 2500 rpm or so. Don't go any higher with the engine in no-load condtions (ie not being driven). Check for oil leaks, etc.

If all sounds good shut down and drain the oil. Put in fresh oil & filter and drive for 100-500 miles on the street to break in the stuff. No full throttle and modest RPM. Once this is done put the race oil in the car and start to flog it. If you car is not street legal like mine then do a DE day at lower revs 3/4 throttle to break in. Again I like to do break-in with 20w50 dino oil.

schwank

I did NOT do any rod bearings yet, that is a job for the winter... if only the cam housing was removed, rebuilt, and replaced, and the belts and h20 pump done, would I still be needing the quick oil change?

Due to work pressures I will be missing my track day next weekend... was to be the shakedown but now it seems my shakedown will be street miles until Feb when I can hopefully get it on track

Calmchaos

NO full throttle?
The haynes says after it warms up... and under load... floor it from 30 and 50 then snap it closed. and go from 30 to 50 10 times?
Is that right? Im starting to think it was a good idea someone asked before I just followed the manual.

M758

Nope. For that just start it like normal. Nothing special required, the headers probalbly will smoke a bit however. Oil pump will have never lost prime & no oil change needed.

Cass944

yeah if you never had the oil pan off dont worry about all the oil changes. should be good to go right off the bat as long as the timing is on correct. but yeah always expect some smoking the first few times the car gets up to running temp as anything on the exhaust will start to burn off.

StoogeMoe

The full throttle recommendation is for setting the rings. Note: This means full throttle, not redline. If you don't change the rings, this should not be necessary. I didn't rev over 4k for the first 1k miles of a complete rebuild.

What is being described in this thread shouldn't need any special procedure. The lifters may click for a minute but that's about it.
____________________________________
1986 944 NA - Guards Red - 91k miles - minty
1983 944 NA - Platinum metallic - 5000 mi beginning a new life
1985.1 944 NA - Guards Red - donor car
1984 911 Carrera Coupe - Guards Red (gone, but not forgotten)
"If you're not living on the edge, you're not living"

Mike C.

I like to pull the coil wire and remove the plugs and then just crank with the starter for several seconds (when first starting a rebuild). There is essentially no load on anything (except the cam lobes - valve springs) and, with a fresh battery it should crank fast enough to see a little oil pressure on the gage.

hosrom_951

Remove the plug wire that goes from the coil to the dizzy cap, crank teh car over several times with the DME relay d/c.

Keep doing this till you get oil pressure.

Before you do what i mentioned above, remove the caps on the cam housing and just pour some oil in there, thats for priming the cam/lifters/springs/guides.